Iowa
Premier Soccer League Rules & Policies
print version (updated 2-15-06) PART I GENERAL 101: Name and Composition The name of this LEAGUE shall be the IOWA PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE. It will be referred to as the “IPSL”. 102: Purpose The purpose of the “IPSL” shall be to develop, promote, and administer youth soccer at the premier level in the State of Iowa. 103: Compliance This league shall comply with the authority of the Iowa Soccer Association, and those regional, national and international organizations of which the Iowa Soccer Association is an affiliate. 104: Boundaries The boundaries of the IPSL shall be limited to the boundaries of the State of Iowa, as defined by the Iowa Soccer Association. Teams from outside the State of Iowa boundaries may enter the league by approval from the League Committee. 105: Laws of the Game The “Laws of the Game” as authorized by FIFA, and modified for youth play by the USSF, USYSA, or the ISA, apply to all youth soccer games sanctioned by the IPSL. 106: Seasonal Year The seasonal year of the IPSL will begin on August 1 of one calendar year and end on July 31 of the following calendar year. 107: Use of Name and Logo No one may use the name or initials of the IPSL, any of its trade names including Iowa Premier Soccer League and IPSL or its logo, except as provided under these Rules & Policies or except with the express written consent of the League Committee. 108: Authorities This league shall be governed by its rules and policies as presently constituted except in those matters reserved Section 1: This league shall be governed by a League Committee, whose membership shall be determined and updated each year. Each club with four or more teams participating will have one representative on the committee. The League Committee may choose to include a representative from clubs or teams with less than four teams participating. Section 2 : The league shall be administered by a LeagueDirector appointed by the ISA Executive Director. 109: Robert’s Rules of Order and Quorum Section 1: Except as otherwise provided in these rules and policies, all meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the latest authorized edition of Robert’s Rules of Order. Section 2: A simple majority of the Committee shall constitute a quorum at any Committee meeting. 110: Dissolution If this league dissolves for any reason, its property and assets shall inure to the ISA for the benefit of youth 111: Fiscal Year Budget The League Director shall prepare a budget for the IPSL for the next fiscal year. 112: Accounts, Books and Records Section 1: The IPSL financial records shall be kept by the ISA Executive Director in accordance with ISA accounting standards. Section 2: All books and records, including copies of governing documents shall be open to inspection by the League Committee and the league membership. 113: Disclaimer The IPSL shall not assume, nor be liable for, the debts and/or financial responsibilities either implied or incurred, MEMBERSHIPS 201: Eligibility The membership of the IPSL is open to all invited soccer clubs, teams, players, coaches, trainers, managers, administrators and officials within the State of Iowa that are affiliated with and in good standing with the Iowa Soccer Association. 202: Representation Each Member Team will be represented by a team coach who is responsible for all communications between the league and the team. The coach must be 18yrs old or older.
203: General Responsibilities In addition to the requirements of these rules and policies: (a) Falsification of records shall be grounds for removal from future participation and/or membership in this league. (b) A plea of ignorance to the rules, policies and procedures of this league is not sufficient and violators may (c) Any person found guilty of violating the rules, policies and procedures of this league may be asked to appear before the League Committee in order to explain his/her actions. 204: Admission to Membership Section 1: Any team wishing to participate in this league must submit an application to the ISA state office on or before the published sign up date as determined each season by the League Director and posted on the League web site at least 30 days in advance. Section 2: The current members of this league will meet no later than the 3rd Sunday in July in order to vote on Section 3: Upon a team's acceptance to this league all players, coaches, assistant coaches, trainers and managers will be members of this league and must adhere to these rules and policies. Section 4: The League Committee at any time may extend an invitation to any team that it feels is eligible to participate in this league. Section 5: The League Committee may withdraw, deny or remove any member and/or member team from participation in this league for any violation of these rules and policies. 205: Terms of Membership The term of membership for this league will be for one (1) seasonal year. 206: General Responsibilities Section 1: In addition to other requirements of these rules, each member shall:
Section 2: Each member team shall maintain its own autonomy except as otherwise provided in these rules and policies. 207: Fees Section 1: Each Team Member shall pay to the IPSL annual fees in an amount recommended by the League Committee. A budget process will be established and maintained between the League Director and the ISA Executive Director. Section 2: The team fee to be collected will include the following: Section 3: A fee schedule for additional fees for such matters as rosters, travel papers, late fees, etc. will be established by the League Director in consultation with the League Committee and the ISA Executive Director. 208: Reinstatement A suspended member of IPSL may submit a written request for reinstatement. The League Committee may 210: IPSL Recruiting Policy Recruitment, or recruiting, is defined as any action initiated by a “Team Official” (coach, assistant coach, team manager/coordinator, trainer, or any person representing a team or club) who seeks to enlist the services of a player. Section 1: Illegal recruitment is defined as the employment of any prohibited practice by a “Team Official”. These prohibited practices include: a) Offering any inducement of material or monetary value to a player or player’s family. b) Contact initiated by a club or club member to any player registered with another IPSL club at any time throughout the seasonal year. (August 1- July 31) c) Interference with a competitive player once the player has signed a registration forms and paid the fee to Section 2: Illegal recruitment does not include the following permitted practices: a) Club Scholarship for families meeting requirements for such a scholarship. b) Contact with a player for limited purpose of participating as a guest player with prior approval by the player’s coach. 211: Club Promotion Section 1: Clubs may generally promote their selective/competitive programs and try-out procedures/events, in their respective IPSL age divisions, publicly in the following places: a) Club Websites, ISA, Public Media, Schools, libraries Sports Stores, Public Bulletin Boards and Club Section 2: When a player initiates contact, the club is at liberty to provide generic promotional material pertaining to program and tryout information. 212: Tryouts Section 1: Unrestricted a) Open tryouts may take place beginning the first Tuesday after Memorial Weekend. b) Tryouts may only be used to form teams in the next seasonal year. c) Players currently registered or unregistered to IPSL clubs may participate in unrestricted tryouts. d) Any currently registered player who is selected for a new team that will play in the next seasonal year may not train or participate with their new team until all activities of their current team have come to an end for the Section 2: Restricted
213: Invites to Join your Club Section 1: Invites from Unrestricted tryouts for U11 through U13 age divisions may be issued on or after 8:00 AM of June 20th of each seasonal year. Section 2: Invites from Unrestricted tryouts for U14 and above age divisions may be issued on or after 8:00 AM Section 3: Invites may be one phone call, official letter, web publication, and/or email. Section 4: Aplayer has 24 hours to respond. 215: Guest Players Section 1: Before approaching a player(s) who is not in your club and/or the player’s parents regarding an opportunity to guest play or dual participate, the Director of Coaching or designated Club Director must be contacted first and informed of the intent to contact the player and/or parents. The Club Director has the right to grant or refuse the player request to guest play. 216: Recruiting Violations Section 1: Allegations of illegal recruiting are very serious and must be based on fact. A written report detailing a) First Violation – automatic $500 fine plus any further action by the League Committee b) Second Violation – automatic $1000 fine plus any further action by the League Committee c) Third Violation – The club will be suspended from the league for a minimum of one year plus any further action by the League Committee ORGANIZATION 301: Divisions Section 1: The IPSL will be comprised of two (2) Divisions. These Divisions will be known as the Girls Division and Boys Division. Section 2: Girls teams may play in the Boys Division. 302: Organization Members Each Member Team is entitled to one (1) vote at the League General Meeting, which will be held in conjunction
303: League Committee and Directors The Officers of the IPSL are the League Director and the League Committee members.
304: Composition and General Authority Section 1: The IPSL is governed by the League Committee. Section 2: The League Committee has the following authority:
305: Meetings Section 1: The League Committee will meet at the following times for the listed purpose.
Section 2: All League Committee meetings are mandatory except emergency meetings where a simple majority is sufficient. There will be an automatic 100.00 dollars fine for the first missed meeting/400.00 dollars and possible suspension from the committee for the second meeting. Section 3: A committee member may designate an alternate to attend the meeting in his/her place. 306: Annual Meeting Section 1: The League Director shall hold an Annual Meeting (AM) in conjunction with the ISA Annual General Meeting. Section 2: The IPSL League Director shall provide to each Member Team.
Section 3: The order of business at the AM shall be as follows.
307: Place of Meetings Section 1: The League Director shall secure and inform all members at a minimum of two weeks prior to any scheduled meeting, the time and location of the meeting. Section 2: The league AM will be held in conjunction with the ISA AGM. Section 3: Meetings may be audio recorded by the League Director. ADMINISTRATION 401: League Committee The League Committee will be responsible for all governance, scheduling and rules and policies of the IPSL. 402: Responsibilities of League Committee The responsibilities of the League Committee shall include, but not limited to, the following:
403: League Director The administration of the IPSL will be conducted by the League Director under the supervision of ISA Executive Director. 404: ISA Office The ISA Office will provide the IPSL all office related support. 405: Referee Assignors The League Director will secure and maintain the service of a Referee Assignor or Assignors for the purpose of scheduling all referees for league matches. 406: Responsibilities of the Referee Assignors The responsibilities of the Referee Assignors shall include, but not limited to, the following:
407: Removal Section 1: Any Member of the League Committee may be removed from the Committee by vote of the members entitled to vote for that office. Section 2: Any Member of the League Committee who is absent for two consecutive meetings, or a total of three meetings of the Committee during their term of membership for any reason other than performing the official Section 3: Any Member who is removed from office for cause or resigns from office, may not be appointed to any office of this league fora period of no less than two years. PLAYER & MATCH RULES 501: Registration Section 1: All Competitive League players and teams shall be registered with the Club Registrar for the seasonal year. (August 1- July 31) Section 2: By submitting an approved, signed registration form for processing by the Club Registrar, a player agrees and commits to the club for the seasonal year unless released by the club. 502: Players/Coach Passes Section 1: All teams are required to present a valid ISA player/coach pass for each player, head coach, assistant coach, trainer and/or manager that will be on the member teams sideline. Passes must be complete with pictures Section 2: The Referee Assignor will insure that all referees assigned to officiate any IPSL games are aware of this rule. 503: Teams Section 1: The age brackets of teams within the IPSL will be in the U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18 and Section 2: There is no limit to the number of players that may be rostered to a team. Section 3: It is the responsibility of each team to comply with rules and regulations outside the boundaries of the IPSL rules and policies. 504: Playing Divisions Section 1: Teams may request to be placed in a division at the time of application. Decisions for placement will be the domain of the League Committee and may not be changed after the schedule is complete except by vote of the League Committee. Section 2: The League Committee, after taking into consideration all requests for placement, will place teams into brackets they deem appropriate to the teams skill level. 505: Matches Section 1: All teams registered in the IPSL shall be required to play all of their scheduled league matches. Teams not playing a scheduled league match are subject to a $400 fine and possible suspension from the IPSL. Section 2: No match may be cancelled for any reason other than an “Act ofGod” Failure to adhere to this policy Section 3: Canceled matches should be rescheduled. A maximum of 72 hours, from the time of the cancelled match is permitted for rescheduling. Failure to adhere to this policy may render the offending team responsible for all referee fees and match expenses for the canceled game. All reschedules are dependant on field and referee availability Section 4: The team listed first on the schedule will be designated the Home team and is responsible for changing jerseys should there be a color conflict. Section 5: Match length Match Duration U11/U12 30 minute halves U13/U14 35 minute halves. U15/U19 40 minutes halves. Coaches may change the length of any match as long as both coaches agree and inform the referee prior to the Section 6: The IPSL is a statewide league and as such will play matches throughout the State.
Section 7: The IPSL may schedule matches on both Saturday and Sunday, Sunday being the primary day, based Section 8: Substitutions
506: Schedules Section 1: The League Director will create a schedule of matches for all divisions in conjunction with the League Committee. Section 2: The Director will send the schedule to the Web Master for posting on the league web site. Section 3: All Member Teams will play their schedules as listed on the web site. Section 4: It is the Member Teams responsibility to ensure that they have a current schedule. Section 5: The League Director will make all attempts to schedule two games in one day for all teams traveling Section 6: The League Director will block out certain weekends designated by the League Committee as having conflicts with the following:
Special Soccer related events. (i.e.; ODP)
Section 7: A calendar of anticipated block out requests will be presented to the League Director prior to the February & July scheduling meetings by all member teams for their team. It should include possible rescheduling dates. It is at the discretion of the League Committee to accept or deny requests. 507: Match Results Section 1: The Member Team listed first on the schedule will be designated the Home team. Home teams will provide a change of colors if requested by the referee Section 2: It is the responsibility of both teams to ensure that the results of the matches are submitted before 10:00pm of each game day. Section 3: It is the Referee’s responsibility to ensure that the game report is accurate and maintain a game report Section 4: All league stats will be taken from the match reports and no changes will be allowed once the match report has been sent to the ISA Office unless both coaches and the head referee concur that an error has been made. 509: Match Locations Section 1: Each Member Club must provide one approved field for every three, teams entered. The fields must be available for scheduling on the same day at the same time. The League Director will try to locate appropriate fields for clubs who do not meet this requirement. It will be the responsibility of the Team and or Club to contract and secure fields. Section 2: All league matches will be played at the locations listed on the schedule that is posted on the web site. Section 3: The League Director will locate and maintain a database of premier quality fields available for league matches. 510: Referees Section 1: The Referee Assignors will ensure that all referees assigned IPSL games are certified as required by Section 2: It is the responsibility of the Referee Assignors to ensure that only referees of the highest caliber are assigned matches played in the IPSL. Section 3: It is the responsibility of each Member Teams Head Coach to advise the League Director of all referees deemed inappropriate to referee matches of the caliber of play in the IPSL. The League Director will then meet Assignor to investigate the report and
Section 4: The referees will officiate all matches in accordance with the FIFA Laws of the Game. Section 5: The referees will be paid after the game report has been submitted to the ISA office. ISA will process referee payments, as per ISA accounting procedures, on the 15 th and the last day of each month. Section 6: The Referee Assignors will communicate with the League prior to the start of the seasonal year to determine the fees to be paid to referees. Section 7: The League Director will assure that all teams pay an equal fee for referees within an age division. DISCIPLINE & HEARING PROCEDURES 601:Discipline Section 1: All matches will be played in accordance with the FIFA Laws of the Game except as amended in these rules and policies. Section 2: All discipline involving an ejection of any head coach, assistant coach, trainer and/or spectator shall be forwarded to the League Director before 10:00pm the day of the match by the head referee. It is the responsibility Section 3: All members are required to participate on hearing or discipline committees If requested. 602:Send-Off Section 1: Any player receiving a red card must sit their next scheduled IPSL match with the team they received
Section 2: Any Coach, Assistant Coach, Manager receiving a send-off must sit the next scheduled IPSL match
Section 3: Any player, head coach, assistant coach, trainer, manager found to violate any rules or section of Section 4: The League Director will convene a Disciplinary Committee, which will be comprised of the following members:
Section 5: Disciplinary Committee procedures
603: Protests Section 1: Any team wishing to protest any contest must contact the League Director within four (4) hours after
Section 2: If the Committee upholds the protest the League Director will decide when and where the game will be replayed. It is also the League Director’s responsibility to advise all the teams affected of the boards decision and game reschedule. Section 3: The Committee will then authorize the league to return the $200.00 protest fee check back to the protesting team. Section 4: The findings of the Hearing Committee are final and no further protests are allowed. 604: Suspensions, Fines, Termination and Reinstatement Section 1: Any member team failing to pay any fees due the IPSL shall be provided written notice of the delinquency by the ISA State Office. If those fees are not paid within 15 days after the date of the notice of delinquency, the delinquent team shall be suspended from further league play.
Section 2: The League Committee may suspend, fine or terminate or any combination thereof, the membership of any member and/or member team of the IPSL if the League Committee determines that;
Section 3: Any individual member that is placed in Bad Standing for actions relating to one team will be in Bad Standing for all teams he/she associated with within the IPSL. Section 4: A Member team may be removed from the league upon a vote of theLeague Committee. 605: Procedures involving Suspensions, Fines, Termination and Reinstatement. Section 1: Upon a determination of the League Committee to Suspend, Fine or Terminate a Member the following procedure will apply:
606:Procedures for Appeal of a Suspension, Fine or Termination Section 1 : Upon receipt of a letter of Suspension, Fine or Termination the affected member or in the case of a member team the designated Head Coach, shall have seven (7) days to file a Letter of Appeal.
Section 2: The League Director will convene a Hearing Committee, which will be comprised of the following members:
Section 3: The Hearing Procedures will be as follows
Section 4: After the vote the Member will be brought back into the Hearing Room and advised of the Boards decision. Section 5: The Decision of the Hearing Board is final and no other Appeals will be entertained. Section 6: Within seven (7) days of the Hearing the League Director will send a letter by Registered U.S. Mail, return receipt requested, to the affected Member detailing the Hearing Boards decision. Section 7: Within seven (7) days the League Director will send a letter to the ISA advising them of the Hearing Boards decision and reaffirm the Bad Standing Status or request that the Bad Standing Status be rescinded. Section 8: The Hearing will be audio recorded. 607: Conflict of Interest Any committee member with a conflict of interest with any interested parties in a hearing process with the league AMENDMENTS TO BYLAWS 701: Proposing Amendments Section 1: Any member in good standing with the league may propose any change to these rules and policies. Section 2: All proposals for changes must be received by the League Director in writing no later than thirty days prior to any scheduled meeting. Section 3: Any proposed rule or policy change that passes a vote of the membership will become effective immediately unless otherwise stated. revised 8-06 Ted Bzdega |